The Brothers Karamazov By Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Powerful Translation

This book is available from Amazon


Editorial Reviews from the Amazon page. plus my review.

Review

"It may well be that Dostoevsky's [world], with all its 

resourceful energies of life and language, is only now--and

through the medium of this translation--beginning to come

home to the English-speaking reader." --John Bayley, 

The New York Review of Books

"Heartily recommended to any reader who wishes to come

as close to Dostoevsky's Russian as it is possible."

--Joseph Frank, Princeton University

"Far and away the best translation of Dostoevsky into English

that I have seen . . . faithful . . . extremely readable . . . gripping."

--Sidney Monas, University of Texas

My Review

I heard a lot about Dostoevsky when I was becoming Orthodox,

how his magnum opus 'The Brothers Karamazov' is the very

embodiment of Orthodox life, mindset, outlook and reality; sin

and virtue, light and darkness brilliantly portrayed.

But I was never able to read the book. The translation I had

seemed dry and artificial, so I kept looking around for an edition

that would captivate my interest.

Then I found this translation. Needless to say that 'gripping' is

an understatement. I am enthralled.

Read for example, the description of the author's hero, Alexei

Fyodorovich in p.19. Dostoevsky sees life and human character

with Orthodox eyes. He values and rejoices in the virtue

observed and experienced in the countenance of those shining

with the Presence of Christ, not only in the lives of those like 

Elder Zosima, but also in the most unexpected places, in 

suffering borne with fortitude and faith.

Dostoevsky observes darkness with tears in his eyes, without
judging. His description of the desolation of a life marred by
sin, of humanity torn, broken and disfigured, pierces the heart.

There is so much pain in the world.

No one who has not encountered the Lord, who has not had the
eyes of his soul opened by the light of the living Christ, could
make the observations that the author makes or could 
appreciate as he does, what is truly great in the human heart. 

Alexei Fyodorovich 

"In his childhood and youth he was not very effusive, not 

even very talkative, not from mistrust, not from shyness

or sullen unsociability, but even quite the contrary, from

something different, from some inner preoccupation, as

it were strictly personal, of no concern to others, but so

important for him that because of it he would,as it were,

forget others. But he did love people; he lived all his life,

it seemed, with complete faith in people, and yet no one 

ever considered him either naive or a simpleton. 

There was something in him that told one, that convinced

one (and it was so all his life afterwards) that he did not

want to be a judge of men, that he would not take judgment

upon himself and would not condemn anyone for anything. 

It seemed, even, that he accepted everything without the 

least condemnation, though often with deep sadness...

Indeed everyone loved this young man wherever he

appeared, and it was so even in his earliest childhood...

He never remembered an offense...And he did not look

as if he had accidentally forgotten or intentionally forgiven

the offense; he simply did not consider it an offense, and
this decidedly captivated the boys and conquered them."

Please, do not deprive yourself of something wonderful,

and read this masterpiece.

Light or Darkness, a Choice that Must Be Made with the Heart

All the circumstances of our lives; past, present and future, are an opportunity to make the disposition of our hearts manifest.

We must choose between light or darkness. This choice is not to be made merely by a decision of our reasoning brains but by the innermost movements of our hearts. How often do we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are choosing wisely because we agree that virtue is worth pursuing, but when pressed-upon by our circumstances, our hearts manifest the darkness inside and we knowingly or unknowingly embrace that darkness and act on it.

While we are still alive, there is much we can do to purify ourselves, with God's Grace and the wise use of our free will. Therefore let us occupy ourselves with the one thing needful, to attend to the inner healing of our
soul that it may lean towards the light and reject the darkness.


In the book 'The Gurus the Young Mand and Elder Paisios', by Dionysios Farasiotis p.238-242, St Herman Press 2008, we read the most amazing description of that moment when a searching soul is presented with the terrifying choice, eternal life or eternal death.

"The Choice between Light and Darkness"
One afternoon at the beginning of Holy Week, having made a stop in Thessaloniki, I was by myself in our home there, when, suddenly, my surroundings vanished. 

There were no images to be seen, sounds to be
heard, or objects to be touched. My five senses had ceased functioning. It was as though the light switch
had been flicked and the room plunged into total darkness.

My mind turned its full attention to a spiritual realm that it found utterly riveting and captivating. In one direction, I saw a soft but intense light- brilliant yet gentle. In the other direction, I saw a thick, cavernous darkness. Initially, I turned my attention towards the awesome, yet fearful, darkness. It made my flesh crawl, but I was overcome by curiosity, the desire to understand what it was. My mind advanced towards the darkness, and I began to sense the magnitude of its negation. 

The deeper I went, the greater this negation became, and the thicker the darkness. It had a vast power and, if I dare put it this way, a certain grandeur. It represented a negative perspective on reality, un-hesitatingly extending into reality as depth, even as the light
stretched infinitely into reality as height. On one side, there was immense love; on the other immense hatred. 

The light was overflowing with unconditional altruism, while the darkness pulled away in utter self-centeredness.

Though I could not see into the darkness, I could feel the presence of souls in it, leaping about and shrieking with insane, wicked laughter as they were pulled deeper and deeper into the ocean of darkness , until the sound of their voices disappeared altogether. Frightened by this savage madness, I headed towards the light, seeking its protection. Just reaching its outskirts, I felt the
relief of having being rescued from a grave danger.

Although I didn't advance very far at all into the darkness, I was able to fill the depths of its evil ocean. I could understand the very essence of the enticing power of sin to tempt, as well as its laughable powerlessness, utter dependence, and shadowy non-existence. The darkness,I saw, is fearsome when it has won you over, but it is absurd and feeble when you reject it. It can not defeat even a small child if he does not fall on his own.

In the same way, I did not advance far into the light- only so to speak, skating its edge -but even there I felt confident and comforted by a fullness of life, peace, joy, and knowledge. The light loved me greatly in spite of my unworthiness and granted me its gifts, gifts I never dreamed existed.

At this point, I realized that the light created the world and every living being. The existential space in which each person dwells is itself a creation fashioned by the light, which also fills and permeates these spaces. One being decided to stay outside of the existential space created by the light, thus creating a sort of space for itself, though only by denying the light, turning from it and driving it away. The darkness has no existence of its own, but only in that it denies the ever-existing and sovereign light....

Just as the light's love wishes to unite all things, being the source of existence and creation, so the hatred of the darkness wants to divide all things, being the source of non-existence and destruction.

Within a matter of minutes, I had received a lesson of immeasurable depth. It was not only a revelation beyond words, of subtle differences of profound meaning and great importance, but also -and even more- a test and trial of the deepest inclinations and intentions of my heart, to see whom I would follow and whom I would leave behind. Fortunately, although my heart initially moved towards the darkness, it ultimately found repose in the light- and fortunately, the light still accepted me."

Available here

"Know that the Sick are in Greater Need of Loving Care than of Rebuke" by St Isaac the Syrian

St Isaac the Syrian

One of  the most amazing things about St Isaac the Syrian,
is his well balanced and wholesome treatment of difficult
issues, for example; positive zeal. How do we neglect not 
what is needful, without being eager at the expense of love,
which is the highest virtue. In Homily 51 of his Ascetical
Homilies, St Isaac says;

"A zealous man never achieves peace of mind; but he who is
a stranger to peace is a stranger to joy. If, as it is said, peace 
of mind is perfect health, and zeal is opposed to peace, then
the man who has the wrong zeal is sick with a grievous
disease.

Though you presume O man, to send forth your zeal against
the maladies of other men, you have expelled the health of
your own soul; be assiduous, rather, in laboring for your own
soul's health. If you want to heal the infirm, know that the sick
are in greater need of loving care than of rebuke.

Therefore, although you do not help others, you expend labor
to bring a grievous disease upon yourself. Zeal is not reckoned
among men to be a form of wisdom, but as one of the maladies
of the soul, namely narrow-mindedness and deep ignorance.

The beginning of divine wisdom is clemency and gentleness,
which arises from greatness of soul and the bearing of the
infirmities of men. For, it is said, 'We that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak (Rom. 15:1, Gal. 6:1), and
'Restore the transgressor in the spirit of meekness'."

So, then, what is positive zeal, or as it is also called, zeal 
according to knowledge? St Isaac is very clear, it is zeal that
arises and strives for virtue, our own virtue. In Homily 55
(this particular homily is a letter to his sibling, a brother,
who was also a brother in Christ) he says, 

"In the beginning of its movement, every impulse of a desire
of good is accompanied by a certain zeal, similar to coals of 
fire in its fervent heat. Such zeal usually walls this impulse
about like a rampart and chases away from it, every 
opposition, obstacle, and barrier that might appear anywhere
near it. For this zeal possesses great strength and unspeakable
power to shield the soul at every moment from slackness and
from fear of the assaults of every tribulation."

"Virtue is not the manifestation of many and various works
performed by the agency of the body, but a heart that is most
wise in its hope and unites a right aim to godly works." 
Homily 40

"For as soon as the heart is zealous in spirit, the body is not grieved
by tribulations, nor does it feel alarm and shrink back from horrors;
but the mind hardens it against all temptations, making it like a 
diamond in its endurance.

Let us be zealous, too, with ardor of spirit for the sake of Jesus's
will, and drive away all heedlessness from ourselves, which gives
birth to sloth in our thinking...May God grant us also such eagerness
to please Him. Amen." Homily 72

This book is available from
Holy Transfiguration Monastery Publications

ISBN 978–0–943405–16–2

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, Revised Second

Edition, Translated from the Greek and Syriac by the Holy

Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, MA 2011